Ease of preparation has never been a strong selling point for tea. Approximately 85% of all tea consumed in the United States is iced. In this fast-paced society, convenience and quickness is a top priority when selecting a beverage. Although home-prepared tea costs approximately 3 cents per serving, consumers typically purchase ready-to-drink tea in bottles and cans because it is easier and more convenient than brewing their own at home. There is a need in the art for a home brewing device that is quick and easy to use. There is also a need in the art for an “all-in-one” convenient device that can be used for brewing, storing, and serving the iced tea.
Devices for brewing beverages in the microwave are known. See for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,185,505; 4,999,470; 4,908,222; 4,900,886; and 4,577,080. All of these microwave beverage brewing devices require the use of a filter along with the coffee/tea to allow the beverage to flow into a receptacle upon reaching a predetermined temperature. With the exception of the ('866) patent, all of these devices are limited to single serve devices. Even the ('866) device is limited to brewing small amounts of beverage. All of the devices in these references show a plurality of interworking components which are time consuming to assemble, cumbersome to use, and pose the risk of loss of one or more of these components, rendering the device useless. Additionally, the height of these devices may be too high to fit in microwave ovens that have limited height capacities.
There is a need in the art for a microwave beverage brewing device that is capable of brewing a large amount of beverage, using a limited number of components, and is capable of fitting within a majority of microwaves.